The home environment contains an increasing number of connected Internet Protocol (IP) enabled wired and wireless devices. These internet connected devices, include smart TVs, security cameras, smart locks, gaming consoles, smart thermostats. With the explosion of the internet of things (IOT) virtually every new home appliance has the ability to connect to the internet. While this can be especially useful and convenient, all of these connected devices can make one especially vulnerable to hackers and other threats.
One of the best ways to secure a home network is to limit the time in which the network is on. By doing this, the threat vector service area of the network is narrowed and the time that the end users can have their activities monitored by 3rd parties is limited. This reduces the window of ability for connected devices in the home to collect and report information, (i.e. spy), on the end user to only the time that the end user requires network services.
Typically, each device added to the home network requires the end user to accept the manufacturers' terms and conditions. These contractual requirements often include permission to monitor how the end user uses the equipment and to share that information with third parties. While the end user may user the device a few hours per week, the device “uses” the user twenty four hours per day.
By limiting the time the network is on also reduces the likelihood that connected devices in the home will be discovered and infected by worm/bot distributed viruses. It also decreases the threat vector service area of the end user network to malicious hacking attacks and reduces the opportunity for government agencies or any 3rd party to use network traffic, wired or wireless, to surveil end user activities to only the time that the end user requires network services, and limits the ability of non-authorized users to access the network to only the times that the end user desires network services.
Accordingly, there is a need for a device that provides user-control of the home network to keep the network nominally off except during user-defined conditions.